Duke Behnke's Q&A: Why are we charged 75 cents on each cellphone bill for police and fire protection?

Feb. 23, 2013

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Post-Crescent Media

Q: Why are we charged 75 cents on each cellphone bill for police and fire protection? Don’t we already pay this through property taxes?

A: The 75-cent monthly fee generates more than $50 million annually. In recent years, the state has directed the income to its shared revenue program.

The money is distributed to local governments to offset property taxes levied for police and fire protection, or at least that’s what the name implies.

In reality, local governments can use the money to fund any part of their operation: police and fire protection but also street maintenance, garbage pickup, community development, library services, park and recreation programs, etc.

“When municipalities receive their shared revenue payment, it just goes into their general fund,” said Curt Witynski, assistant director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, “but a large portion of a municipality’s budget is police and fire, so when they get a shared revenue check, it’s going to be used to supplement the costs associated with their police and fire departments.”

That’s not how the fee initially was set up, and its transformation has created distrust of how government works.

The 75-cent fee first was levied on cellphone bills from 2006 to 2009 to fund enhancements to 911 systems to better serve cellphone users.

As the surcharge was about to expire, Gov. Jim Doyle and the Legislature extended the fee, not for 911 systems, but to close a gap in the state budget. They expanded the fee to landlines and prepaid phone cards, renamed it the “Police & Fire Protection Fee” and redirected the income to the state shared revenue program.

Gov. Scott Walker and the Legislature have continued the fee.

Witynski said the income now accounts for 7 percent of the state shared revenue program.